Spanish Regular Verbs – Present Tense

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Spanish
Spanish Verbs – Present Progressive
El presente progresivo
 The present progressive is a compound tense used to talk about ongoing action in the present that uses an
auxiliary verb in the present tense combined with the present participle of a second verb.
 The auxiliary verb is the first verb in the tense that precedes (goes before) the participle. The
most common auxiliary verb is estar. Some other auxiliary verbs used in the past
progressive are: andar, seguir, ir and venir.
estar + participio presente (-ando o –iendo)
Examples:
Estamos limpiando la casa.
We are cleaning the house.
o
Estoy comiendo)
I am eating.
To illustrate the present progressive, think of the equivalent in English:
to be + the –ing form of a verb
Examples:
I am eating.
We are studying.
verb to be + -ing form
verb to be
+
-ing form
o It is important to note that the progressive tenses are used much more frequently in English than in
Spanish. In Spanish, this verb tense is usually used to stress or exaggerate the ongoing action in the
present.
 Steps to form the present progressive tense:
1.
2.
Conjugate the auxiliary verb estar into the present tense.
yo estoy
estar – to be
nosotros estamos
tú estás
vosotros estáis
él/ella/usted está
ellos/ella/ustedes están
Form the present participle:
a. Identify the infinitive form of the second verb that will form the present participle.
b. Drop the –AR, -ER, or –IR ending.
c. Add the appropriate participle ending that corresponds to the infinitive ending of the verb (-ando
or –iendo).
-AR verbs -ER / -IR verbs
-ando
-iendo
Examples:
3.
cantar  cantando
comer  comiendo
correr  corriendo
saltar  saltando
escribir  escribiendo
hablar  hablando
Combine the auxiliary verb in the present tense with the present participle.
Updated 09/08 E.A.V.
BCCC Tutoring Center
Verbo
saltar – to jump
beber – to drink
escribir – to
Spanish
Participio
saltando
bebiendo
Presente progresivo
estoy saltando – I am jumping
estamos saltando – We are jumping
estás saltando – You are jumping
estáis saltando – You (pl). are jumping
está saltando – He/she is jumping
están saltando – They are jumping
estoy bebiendo – I am drinking
estamos bebiendo – We are drinking
estás bebiendo – You are drinking
estáis bebiendo – You (pl.) are drinking
está bebiendo – He/she is drinking
están bebiendo – They are drinking
escribiendo estoy escribiendo – I am writing
estás escribiendo – You are writing
write
estamos escribiendo – We are writing
estáis escribiendo – You (pl.) are writing
está escribiendo – He/she is writing están escribiendo – They are writing
 It is important to note that all -AR and -ER verbs are regular when forming the present participle. Only
some –IR stem changing verbs have irregular participles.
 Steps to form the present participle of -IR stem changing verbs:
1. The vowel e in the stem changes to i, e > i
The vowel o in the stem changes to u, o > u
2. Add -iendo to the stem of the verb.
Examples:
pedir  pidiendo
servir  sirviendo
seguir  siguiendo
decir  diciendo
morir  muriendo
dormir  durmiendo
 For pronunciation reasons, some verbs experience a spelling change involving the letter y.
o This change occurs because any time there is an unaccented letter i between two vowels, it changes
to a y.

If the regular steps to forming the past participle were followed for the verb influir, the
participle would look like this: influiendo. However, because there is an unaccented i
between two vowels (u and e) the i changes to a y, and the correct participle is 
influyendo.
Other examples of verbs like this:
caer  cayendo
oír  oyendo
leer  leyendo
Updated 09/08 E.A.V.